


Outback

by torturingtaylor (itzaimster)



Category: Hanson
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-11
Updated: 2013-03-11
Packaged: 2017-12-04 23:53:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/716502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itzaimster/pseuds/torturingtaylor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on the true story of Peter Falconio, the Hansons have their road trip come to an abrupt end when a stranger pulls them over to say there's something wrong with their van. It's soon obvious his intentions are to be anything but helpful.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Outback

**Author's Note:**

> This was written back around late 2002/early 2003, after seeing a TV special on the subject. I'm working on updating with some of my older fics that people might remember (basically as I find them - thanks to jiangyin for keeping this one!).

"Ok, so we’re meant to be meeting Chris when…? Four days?" Isaac asked from the driver’s seat.  
Taylor frowned as he struggled with the road map.  
"If we don’t get there by Wednesday we have to give him a call," Zac reminded them, "and tell him how long we think we’ll be. But we’re making pretty good time, so it shouldn’t really be a problem."  
Isaac glanced in the rear view mirror. The road was vast and empty, and the autumn nights were still warm. No lights appeared on the road, which seemed to stretch on forever.  
Zac sighed and leant back into the back seat, eyeing his Discman.  
"I think I’m gonna zone out for a while," he announced, grabbing it.  
Taylor glanced at him as he finally found where they were on the map.  
"Ok Ike… we’re somewhere around here," he indicated with his finger, "so we have that far to go. I think we could make it in three days. Maybe less."  
Isaac nodded, turning his eyes back to the road.  
"Provided you keep this up anyway."  
"What?"  
"Driving at night," Taylor nodded to the road.  
Isaac shrugged.  
"Better than having Zac complaining about being bored all day."  
Taylor and Isaac both chuckled, hearing Zac start to sing along to his CD.

It soon came time to swap driver. Zac was up next, nominated as the main night driver. When they finally pulled over, Taylor remained in the passenger seat as navigator, and Isaac made his way into the back of the van where they’d made a makeshift bed. Taylor and Zac both said goodnight to him, before he soon fell asleep.  
"So what do we have in the way of lunch?" Zac began sometime later.  
"Lunch?" Taylor raised his eyebrows, "I need dinner. I’ll check in the back."  
He unbuckled his seatbelt and climbed into the back seat, opening a cooler.  
"Want a drink?" he called, as Zac checked the rear view mirror.  
There were some headlights behind them.  
"Ah… yeah, sure."  
He kept his eye on the lights, as Taylor fumbled around to try and get some food together. He finally reappeared and handed his brother a sandwich, before settling into his seat and eating his dinner of bolognese.

"We have a visitor," Zac chuckled.  
"Hmm?"  
"We’re not alone. There’s someone behind us."  
Taylor checked the mirrors, then looked back.  
"Well what do you know? Rare occurrence out here."  
Zac grinned, then went back to eating.  
Sometime later, Zac happened to glance in the mirror again.  
"Ok…"  
"What?" Taylor didn’t even look up from his book.  
"That car’s gaining."  
"Are you doing the speed limit?"  
"Umm… going over every now and then?"  
Taylor quirked an eyebrow and looked up. He looked back at the car, and noticed it was only a couple of hundred metres behind… as compared to miles.  
"Guess we don’t have to worry about it being a cop pulling us over then," Taylor mused, settling down to read his book again.  
"Maybe I should slow down and let him overtake…" Zac pouted slightly.  
Taylor looked up at him and grinned.  
"Your road huh?"  
"My road."  
Taylor rolled his eyes, turning back to his book.  
"Tell me when they catch up then."  
"Will do."  
It was a few minutes later before Zac sighed.  
"Ok, they’re coming up Tay."  
Taylor bookmarked his book, then put it away and sat up.  
"It’s probably a local," he said, putting his seatbelt back on.  
"Probably," Zac agreed, watching the car behind them, "come on, pass me you idiot…"  
It was a moment before what they saw was a Ute began to pass them. There was only one person – the driver, who looked to be in his 40s – and his cattle dog.  
Zac pulled to the side a little so the man could pass, and he pulled up beside them. But instead of carrying on, the man was waving his arm in an effort to get them to pull over.  
"What does he want?" Taylor frowned slightly, watching.  
"How the hell should I know?" Zac shrugged.  
He turned his headlights up, trying to find somewhere to pull over. The man was indicating the back of their van, like something was wrong.  
"Is there something wrong with the van?" Taylor looked back, trying to see if they were losing fuel or something.  
"Well we’ll soon find out," Zac insisted, as he began to pull over.  
The man slowed his truck down, and pulled in behind them.  
Zac pulled to a halt and shut the van off, then looked back for the man. He got out of the truck leaving his dog inside, then made his way over to the back of the van.  
Zac hesitated for a moment biting his lip, then unbuckled his seatbelt.  
"Ok, I’m going to see what’s up."  
Taylor shook his head.  
"I have a bad feeling about this…"  
"Don’t worry Tay. He’s a puny ass guy anyway."

Zac opened the door and jumped out, then headed around to the back of the van. Taylor turned in his seat to watch them through the back window. He couldn’t make out their words, but the man seemed to be pointing something out to Zac near the  
exhaust pipe. Taylor considered getting out to check it for himself, but instead decided to wait for Zac.  
After a while, Zac returned to the front door.  
"Tay?"  
"Yeah man?"  
"Turn the van on and step on the gas when I tell you to. Apparently there’s sparks flying or something."  
Taylor frowned slightly, but moved across into the driver’s seat. He turned the key in the ignition, as Zac made his way back to the back of the van.  
"Now Tay!"  
Taylor stepped on the gas, and heard Zac coughing a little.  
"Alright?!" Taylor called.  
"Hang on man, do it again."  
Taylor shrugged, and hit the gas again. He heard the two of them talking for a moment, before Zac called out to him to try again.  
Suddenly, a blast shot through the air as the van seemed to backfire. Isaac practically jumped out of his skin at the bang.  
"What the…"  
"Don’t worry Ike," Taylor insisted, taking a deep breath, "something’s wrong with the van. Just get back to sleep."  
Isaac squinted at him, then practically collapsed on the bed again.  
Taylor grinned, then turned to look out the window again. There was a gun in his face.  
"Holy…!"  
"Move over," the gunman ordered, opening the door.  
"Oh shit…" Taylor cursed, keeping his eyes on the gun.  
His hands fumbled for something to lean against as he hurriedly backed into the passenger seat. His thoughts immediately turned to Zac, and he leant out the passenger window.  
"ZAC?!" he yelled.  
"Shut up," the gunman ordered sternly, before Taylor felt the tip of the gun resting against his head.  
"Where’s Zac? What did you do to him?" he asked softly, his hands in full view for surrender.  
"Never mind."  
"Where is he?! ZAC?!"  
Isaac had frozen, but slowly moved his head so he could see what was going on. He wasn’t going to give his presence away unless he absolutely had to. He managed to silently cover himself with the sheets and remain hidden, listening to what was going on.  
"Shut up!" the gunman ordered again, "now put your head down, and your hands behind your back."  
"Oh shit…" Taylor cussed again, as the man actually put the gun in his face, "ok, ok!"  
The gunman leant back a little so that Taylor could lean forward and put his head down.  
"Just please… tell me what happened to Zac," he pleaded as he put his hands behind his back.  
He heard the man fiddling with something as he was ignored.  
"Please…"  
"Shut up. I’m not going to tell you again."  
Taylor gulped, as he felt something going around his right wrist. His best guess was that it was a bag tie… one of the ones that couldn’t be removed unless they were cut. He remained silent as another went around his left wrist, then two others connected them like a small plastic chain.  
Isaac fumed as he saw what was happening, and his mind raced for some kind of plan.

The gunman finally got out of the van, and began to make his way around to Taylor’s door.  
"Tay man? You ok?" came Isaac’s voice.  
"Yeah... Just keep down. I don’t know what happened to Zac."  
Isaac ducked again as he heard Taylor’s door open, not missing the slight croak in his brother’s voice. The gunman took  
Taylor’s arm and practically dragged him from the van. From there, Taylor was taken across to the truck, where the man held him across his chest and pulled some silver duct tape from the back.  
Taylor’s eyes widened slightly when he saw it, and the man began to try and get it over his mouth. He began to violently shake his head, not letting the man get it near his face. He managed to get it in his hair and around his neck, but that was as close as it got.  
Frustrated, the gunman pushed Taylor to the ground and knelt beside him. Taylor landed on his arm, and coughed as he tried to roll over. Then he felt the man trying to tape his ankles together. With a bit of effort, Taylor began kicking out at him, not letting him do it. He heard the man curse, as he finally gave up and put the tape away.  
"Oh man this can’t be happening…" Taylor moaned, rolling onto his side.  
The man came back for him, and pulled him from the ground. Isaac watched through the van window as the man took him to the cab of the truck and shoved him in. From there, he pushed him into the back. Taylor fell onto something soft, most likely camping gear or something of the sort.  
He froze and listened attentively, wondering what the gunman was going to do.  
Taylor heard his footsteps heading back towards the van, and hoped he wouldn’t come across Isaac. Looking down towards his feet, he saw a slight gap in the truck’s covering. Gulping, he began to slide toward it.  
Isaac had managed to slide deeper into the bedding, and instead of worrying about seeing anything, concentrated on listening instead. He’d only be in trouble if the gunman opened the back door.

Taylor managed to get his legs out the back of the truck, and tried not to make a sound as he slid the rest of his body through.  
He landed on the road, and hesitated for a moment as he tried to find out where the gunman had gone. Hearing him still at the van, he decided to make a run for it. It was pitch black in the bushes either side of the road, but it was better than where he was at the moment.  
Taking a deep breath, he bolted. He had no idea if the gunman heard his footsteps or anything, but he wasn’t going to look back. He ran quite a few metres into the dark, then found a bush to hide behind and settled down onto his knees before freezing.  
Isaac didn’t know what had happened, but the gunman had dropped whatever he was doing pretty quickly and left. He kept his breath steady as he frowned in concentration.  
Taylor held his breath as he suddenly saw torchlight. The man must have gone back for his torch when he’d lost sight of him.  
He gulped, but kept his head down.  
The gunman searched the nearby bush for what seemed like an eternity to Taylor. In one particular case, his footsteps passed not even three metres away from where Taylor hid. Taylor kept his eyes open and remained silent, just listening to the footsteps.

Finally, the man headed back to his truck, cursing. Taylor could hear him fumbling around with something, before it sounded like he was dragging something heavy into the bushes. Near to where Taylor was. Still, Taylor didn’t move. The object came to rest quite a few metres away, and the man headed back to the two vehicles.  
Suddenly, Taylor heard the van starting again. His thoughts instantly turned to Isaac. He was still in there…  
Isaac’s eyes widened as he heard the gunman starting the van and beginning to drive off. What had happened to Taylor? What had happened to Zac? But he knew the best thing to do was to just remain quiet until they got to wherever they were going.  
But where were they going? Was he going to jump out only to be faced by twenty gunmen rather than one?  
Taylor heard the van driving away, but opted to remain where he was. He guessed it was maybe an hour later that he heard footsteps again. He hoped that they belonged to either Zac or Isaac, but then he saw the torchlight again, coming towards him.  
He gulped and kept his head down, saying a silent prayer. He’d obviously taken the van somewhere, and come back.  
Hearing the gunman mutter something under his breath, he was partly relieved when the man headed back towards his truck.  
The man got in, started it, and drove away.  
Still, Taylor didn’t move. He’d come back once; he could very well do it again. If only he knew where Zac was…  
Taylor remained in that position for a number of hours and there was no sign of the gunman. Finally, sometime before sunrise, he rose from his hiding spot. Looking around nervously, he began to make his way back to the road. It was probably safer over the other side, as the gunman knew that was the way Taylor had gone.  
He saw the road by the moonlight, but didn’t stay there. He hurried across into the long grass on the other side, and finally tripped over something. He froze where he’d fallen, trying to get himself together. No cars had gone past at all, and not knowing what had happened to Zac he was practically on his own out in the middle of nowhere.

After another long time – mainly spent convincing himself the gunman wasn’t coming back - he finally moved again. He managed to get his legs through his arms so he could have his hands in front, and tested the strength of the ties. It only made them tighter.  
Gulping, he settled back into the grass. He’d made up his mind to wave down the next vehicle that came past. But what if it was the gunman? He’d have to be careful.  
It wasn’t long before sunrise that Taylor spotted a set of headlights coming from the direction he and his brothers had been heading in. As they drew closer, he realized it was a semi-trailer. That definitely couldn’t have been the gunman.  
Pulling himself together, he crawled out to the side of the road. He’d wait until the last moment, just in case.  
The truck soon came close enough, and Taylor stepped out into the road. He waved his hands frantically, knowing that the driver could see him in the headlights. Stepping aside so he wouldn’t get hit, he heard the driver hitting the brakes. Standing by the truck as it came to a halt, he heard the driver’s door open. Quickly, he darted around to his side.  
"Hello?!" the driver called, confusion evident in his voice.  
"Hey!" Taylor exclaimed, appearing from the front of the truck.  
He spotted the driver and rushed over.  
"Hey…"  
"Please, please, please sir… you’ve gotta help us," Taylor pleaded, tears welling in his eyes.  
"Sure, sure son…" the driver insisted, taking in the state of him, "what happened?"  
"Please, we have to get out of here," Taylor insisted.  
"Well ok. Get in the truck. You can fill me in on the way."  
Taylor nodded, and got into the truck. The driver scratched his head, then joined him.

Meanwhile, Isaac had been relieved when the gunman had simply dumped the van a few miles down the road then seem to walk back to his vehicle.  
He emerged from the sheets at the back, and looked around for a moment. Nothing had been stolen, so it seemed the man had only been interested in they themselves.  
Groaning to himself, he got out the back door and made his way around to the front. There didn’t seem to be anything wrong with the van as Taylor had said. Maybe the gunman had simply told him that.  
He got into the driver’s seat and started it, then tried to find his way back to the road. It didn’t take long, and he continued down the road. He wasn’t going to go back and put his own life in danger, he knew it’d be safer to get help. He grabbed one of their phones, and saw that the signal was out of range. Cursing to himself, he hoped the next town wasn’t too far away.

Once Taylor had filled him in on the details – and had had his wrists cut free – the driver decided to stop at the next roadhouse.  
He knew the owner, and knew they could call for help from there.  
It took some time on the road, but they made it soon after sunrise. Taylor opted to stay in the truck as the driver went to see his friend.  
When the truck driver first told him, the owner simply laughed in his face. But soon enough, he realized that his friend wouldn’t lie like this. The driver went to retrieve Taylor, and they called the nearest police station – about 100 miles away. When the driver transferred the details from Taylor, the person on the other end of the phone hung up.  
"Hello? Hello?" the driver tapped the phone, "bastards…"  
"What?" Taylor looked worried.  
"They hung up. They thought it was a prank."  
"Try again," the owner insisted.  
The driver did try again, and finally got through. It would be about two hours before the police would arrive.  
About one hour later, the owner got a call.  
"Yes it is. You what? Oh. Thank you. Is he coming? Great. Thanks again."  
"Who was it?" the truckie asked.  
"That was the police," he turned to Taylor, "seems they’ve found your older brother. They’re bringing him down with them."  
Taylor’s eyes lit up slightly, but he didn’t smile.  
"What about my younger brother?"  
"No word," the owner shook his head, "sorry."  
Taylor gulped, then sat back again.  
"You’ll find him," the truckie assured.  
"Yeah…" Taylor sighed.  
As promised, an hour later both two police cars and the boys’ van pulled up outside. Taylor darted outside, looking for Isaac.  
"TAY!" he heard him call.  
He spotted him getting out of one of the police cars, and a smile crossed his face. He darted towards him and hugged him for all he was worth.  
"Oh man, I thought I could have lost you…" Isaac murmured.  
"I didn’t know what to think when he drove off with the van," Taylor admitted, his eyes welling up again.  
"Do you know what happened to Zac?" Isaac asked, pulling away and putting his hands on Taylor’s shoulders.  
Taylor just shook his head.  
"He’s still out there somewhere Ike…"  
Isaac cursed silently, then turned to a waiting police officer.  
"We have to go back out there. We need to find our brother."  
The officer nodded.  
"May one of you come to the station to ID the suspect?"  
"You’ll have to," Isaac insisted, turning to Taylor, "I never saw his face."  
Taylor nodded, then clasped Isaac’s hand in both of his.  
"Bring him back," he gulped, looking into his eyes.  
Isaac hesitated, then hugged him again.  
They separated. Isaac was taken back to find the scene, and Taylor was taken to the police station. Neither heard from the other until about midday, when Isaac returned to the station. As soon as Taylor saw him, he saw how red his eyes were and thought the worst.

"Where is he?" he asked, standing as Isaac and an officer entered the small back room.  
Isaac just shook his head.  
"I don’t know."  
"You don’t know?" Taylor raised his eyebrows, "well… what… how…"  
"They found blood at the scene Tay," Isaac looked into his eyes from across the table.  
Taylor frowned.  
"Is it…?"  
"They’ve sent it off for testing. We don’t know whose it is. But they say it’s more than likely…"  
Taylor looked between he and the officer, then stood back a little.  
"If he… if he was dead there’d have to be a body, right?" he stammered.  
"Well that’s what they’re working on," Isaac’s voice croaked, "they just… they just say we should go and rent a place for the night, then they’ll have the results of the blood test tomorrow."  
Taylor gulped again, the look of shock and worry on his face showing no sign of leaving.  
"Come on Tay," Isaac shook his head and held his hand out, "it’s useless sitting around here. They’ll call us if they hear anything."  
Taylor glanced at the officer again and nodded.  
"Ok…"  
The brothers booked into a nearby motel that night. Their parents had been contacted, and Chris was on his way down.  
They were both awoken in the morning by the phone ringing. Isaac answered.  
"Hello? Yes, this is he. I ah…" he sat up, "are you sure?"  
Taylor yawned, then tried to concentrate on this half of the conversation.  
"Yes, thank you officer. Sorry. No, no worries. Thank you again. See you soon."  
Taylor frowned as he hung up. Isaac sighed, then looked across at him.  
"Ike?"  
Isaac bit his lip.  
"Tay?" his voice shook slightly.  
Taylor sat up on the bed.  
"The blood was Zac’s."


End file.
